When The Lights Go Down
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: AU. Alex Montgomery's first date.


**Quidditch League: Round 5**

**Team: Appleby Arrows**

**Character: Montgomery**

**Position: Chaser 3**

**Scene: First Date**

**Prompts: When The Lights Go Down (song); The Red Wheelbarrow (poem); Haiku never published (poem)**

**Note: This is an AU where Montgomery was saved by the healers, but was turned into a werewolf. My team decided on his name being Alex.**

**When The Lights Go Down**

He watched the dust rise as he swept the floor of the kitchen. His mother had just finished wiping away the last of the dishes and was watching him with a small smile on her face. He didn't know what was so amusing.

Sure, he was seventeen, and most of his year mates in Hogwarts didn't help their parents around the house but he had been doing this for as long as he could remember. Brigit and Mary, his older sisters had already moved out; Mary was pregnant and Brigit recently married. It was just him and his mother, and he could tell that his mother was lonely while he was at Hogwarts by how happy she always seemed to see him. Although that could also be that she missed him, but that amounted to pretty much the same thing, didn't it?

He hated to think how lonely she would be if he were to leave. He wasn't likely to leave any time soon though. He had never been on a date before. Despite people being generally more accepting of people with lycantrophy, it didn't mean that everyone was happy to associate with them. Fenrir Greyback had done a good job in destroying the trust of witches and wizards towards werewolves in general.

While they looked up to his mother for standing against the Death Eaters while they were in power, that did not mean they accepted his condition, or treated him the same as they did other witches and wizards. The ones that had approached him in friendship, and there had been many in his first year, had only used his friendship as a chance to appease their curiosity of werewolves. They didn't really care about him.

He was fine with that. He knew he had someone who truly cared about him at home. He knew his sisters cared. That was all he needed really. He didn't need a group of friends so big he could never remember all of their names. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone other than himself, and maybe his mother.

"Mum?"

His mother looked at him, making a sound of acknowledgement prompting him to continue. He couldn't help but think that she looked beautiful, even though she looked exhausted as if there was a large weight on her shoulders that she would not be able to bear for much longer.

"Would you like to go one a date?"

"A date, Alex?" She sounded amused.

"With whom?"

"With me?"

It had ended up sounding like more of a question than he had wanted it to.

He waited nervously. A couple of minutes passed with his mother only watching him carefully.

"I mean, I just-"

"I don't see why not." She smiled. "When?"

"I was thinking, today? But if you have something else you need to-"

"Oh no, that's perfect. I'll just go change into something more appropriate."

He sighed in relief as he watched his mother disappear into her bedroom. He hadn't thought it would be that difficult, but the Sorting hat hadn't put him in Gryffindor for a reason. He was not brave. Even in situations where he already had a good idea of what the outcome would be. There was always that uncertainty that he hated. He absolutely _hated_ leaving things to chance.

He knew his mother though. He depended on her as the only person that would always be there, even though he knew logically she wouldn't be there forever. She would have to leave him like his father had. He wanted that day to wait for as long as possible.

Perhaps he was being a bit selfish. He knew his mother was lonely as she was. Maybe it would be-

No. He shouldn't think like that. He just had to keep his mother happy for as long as he could so she preferred staying with him.

His mother walked out of the bedroom, just as he walked out of his own room, wearing red dress he could not remember ever seeing. The material seemed to shimmer in the dying sunlight. He was stunned into silence at the difference the bright colour made to his mother, who had only ever worn blacks, greys, and browns with the occasional blue in his memories.

"What? It doesn't look too bad does it? I haven't worn this dress since before the war, when your father took me to dinner."

"No. You look beautiful."

"Thank you, Alex."

His mother smiled a smile he had only rarely seen. In that moment he saw the woman his father had fallen in love with. The lovely, vibrant woman, who was brave and would not back down, the woman who had defied the Death Eaters. His mother was still lovely and vibrant, but life had weathered her down to her essence, and she looked nothing like the woman who stood before him now.

He didn't take her to a fancy restaurant. The restaurant was simple with a homey feel and a quiet elegance, that both of them appreciated. They had never needed expensive things like everyone else seemed to need. His mother had been the one that had taught him how to enjoy the little things, because you never knew when you could lose it. She had taught him how to appreciate the light rain when he had hated it one morning. She had taught him to enjoy the feeling of sunshine on his face one cold morning.

That day he learned how the little things meant more than anything else. He had never thought there would be another side to his mother, but that night he realized that there was so much he had missed in his seventeen years.

His mother had told him storied of her youth, ones she had never shared before. All the mischief she had managed to get into, all the trouble she had caused. His mother laughed so much that night. He had never seen her so carefree. She truly was a beautiful woman that was burdened by years of hardship, and living through a war with all of the worries that came with having to raise children during a war, with him being turned into a werewolf. It was almost like his mother was a teenager like him again. Just for those precious few hours.

He could only stare at her as he watched her brown eyes sparkle in delight as she recounted the memory of her meeting his father. He could only listen as her laughter filled the small room. They were so caught up in the retold story that their food had been cold before they had even begun eating.

It didn't matter. They didn't taste any of the food with how lost they were in the past, despite the fact that only one of them had really experienced it. For someone who had never really known his father it was as close as he could get. His mother must have known that on some level, because she brought out tale after tale of his misdemeanours, much to his amusement.

They arrived home long after the sun had set. Everything was dark, except their mood.

"Thank you, Alex. It was a wonderful evening."

"No. Thank _you_, mum. It would never have been the same without you."

He watched his mother enter her bedroom, the wide smile still settled on her face as the door closed behind her.

He entered his bedroom a moment after, hoping the woman he had seen that night was still there in the morning. Maybe he could wake a little earlier, and pick out a few flowers from the garden for her.

Just like he did when he was younger; except without the small bits of stray grass with it this time.


End file.
